Footwear is an emotional subject

Hi everyone, 

Voltan Pisa

Why do we need to buy another pair of shoes when we have sufficient already?  Perhaps it’s because emotion and value are handled by the same part of the brain.  Apparently US researchers have discovered that this is the reason we find ourselves unable to make impartial judgements when we get the urge to splurge.

No one needs to tell me that there is an emotional engagement when it comes to shoe buying, lord knows I have to give myself a very good talking to every time the new season’s styles come via my office for photographing.  I really don’t need another pair, but then again,  I really, really do!

Unisa Nick Peep-Toe

I think most people would understand when I say that shoes can have a direct affect on how we feel.  I went to a golf club cup presentation evening hosted by a close friend and newly appointed club captain (the first female to be given the job in the club’s history).  She wore a very high pair of platform sandals for the event and these added to her own height of 5’10” meant she towered above everyone in attendance.  In the short time she’d been captain she’d been challenged very unpleasantly by a few of the other failed captaincy candidates, all male. She told me the head height gain definitely gave her a sense of empowerment, a sense of “Yep! I won and Yep! I am a girl!!”. Between you and me, her sharp wit and natural authoritative air would fend off the most hostile of opponents but she simply felt stronger in a pair of heels.

Crockett and Jones Westbourne

Women are not alone in attaching an emotion to footwear.  My colleagues in store have seen many a young man arrive to purchase their first pair of smart work shoes and hear their delight in immediately feeling more business like (even if, at the time, they are wearing underwear revealing jeans).  Fathers often introduce their sons to their favourite brand of shoes. There’s a sense of club membership for those who wear a pair of British made Goodyear Welted shoes.  So, for some men, there is a sense of prestige attached to wearing traditionally made quality shoes.

It’s long been a tradition to keep our children’s first shoe, perhaps because it represents a memory of their first steps.  So, why not their first toothbrush?  The buying process for a first pair of shoes is an

emotional moment for a parent, it can be a significant investment and represents a child’s progression from infancy to toddlerhood. So there can be nostalgia attached to a pair of shoes. I have kept my last pair of pointe ballet shoes, I’ll never wear them again but they represent an important and fond part of my childhood.

Finally, I read an article this week about a resilient Syrian refugee and his struggle with a long and traumatic separation from his family.  Running through his story is a pair of shoes he bought but would not wear until his final reunion with his mother some 12 years later.  Why shoes?  Who really knows, it could just as easily have been a suit or a hat.  Perhaps he had the idea that the shoes would take him to his mother. The article, by the BBC,  doesn’t say but he keeps the same pair of shoes safely to this day.   

Mephisto Cedric men's walking boot

Shoes have a huge significance in our lives. They are a form of armament, adornment and lets face it, most of the time, walking without them in the modern world would be most unpleasant.

Have another great week and if you have any shoe tales to tell, do tell me. You can email me -danielle@macsamillion.co.uk

Best wishes

Danielle